Utah State Information

Senior Jenna Johnson and the Aggies open the season on the road at Utah Valley on Monday.

Nov. 11, 2012

LOGAN, Utah -
TIP OFF - After weeks of practice, one exhibition and a Blue-White Scrimmage, the Utah State women's basketball team will get down to business, opening the season on the road against Utah Valley (0-1) on Monday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on UVUTV and will be streamed online at http://www.uvu.edu/uvutv.

THE OPPONENT - Utah State is 5-3 against Utah Valley in eight meetings with the Aggies wining the last three meetings. The last time the Wolverines beat USU was during the 2006-07 season in Orem. Last season, Utah State handled Utah Valley, 61-43, in Logan to win their fourth-straight game.

Utah Valley has started the season 0-1 this year. A double-double from senior Sammie Jensen wasn't enough as Utah Valley dropped its season opener, 80-63, to Boise State on Nov. 9 in Orem.

Jensen, the reigning Great West Conference Player of the Year, recorded a team-high 15 points and 14 rebounds in the defeat, while senior Alle Finch Cardwell added 12 and junior Whitney Jenkins chipped in 10.

FAREWELL - USU enters its eighth and final season in the WAC. Next season, the Aggies will be heading to the Mountain West Conference along with San Jose State. Last season, the Aggies finished third in WAC play with an 11-3 conference record which was its best finish since joining the league.

BEING SOCIAL WITH THE AGGIES - Fans can follow USU women's basketball at http://twitter.com/USUwbb and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics.

SEASON OPENERS - This is the 10th season since Utah State women's basketball was re-instated for the 2003-04 season. The Aggies are 2-7 in season openers with a win last season at Wyoming, 62-56. USU's other season opening win came to begin the 2009-10 season against in-state rival Utah in Logan, 67-58.

ROAD WARRIORS - For the second-straight season, Utah State will start the season on the road after defeating Wyoming last season. This year, the Aggies have a treacherous road schedule to begin the season. USU will play its first six games on the road this season, including playing two games at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska. After returning home for one home game on Dec. 1 against Montana State, the Aggies will hit the road again to face two of its toughest games of the season at BYU and at Notre Dame. The fighting Irish were the national runners-up and are ranked No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today Preseason Coaches' Poll.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE WOLVERINES - Four different players reached double-digits in scoring, as the Utah State women's basketball team completed non-conference action with a 61-43 win over in-state rival Utah Valley Saturday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Jan. 7, 2012.

Utah State ended non-conference action with a 9-5 record, and had won four-straight games. This was the second four-game winning streak of the season for the Aggies.

UP NEXT - After USU opens the regular season at Utah Valley on Monday, Nov. 12 and the Jerry Finkbeiner era officially begins, the Aggies will remain on the road. Following the game against the Wolverines, the Aggies will travel to the Golden State for a pair of games in California. In Nov. 15, USU will take on UC Riverside and will face UC Riverside on Nov. 17.

ADMISSION - Admission to Utah State's women's basketball games is $5 for adults, $1 for youth. A woman's sports pass is also available for $50. Contact the USU Athletics Ticket Office at (435) 797-0305 or at 1-888-U-STATE-1 (1-888-878-2831) for more information or visit the Utah State athletic web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com.

SILVER ANNIVERSARY - The 2012-13 season marks the 25th year of women's basketball at USU, and just the 10th since the program was restarted prior to the 2003-04 season. The women's hoops program at USU had been disbanded following the 1987 season due to budget cuts. USU is playing in its eighth season in the WAC after playing its first two seasons in the Big West Conference.

AGGIES IN THE PRESEASON POLLS - Utah State women's basketball was selected first in both the Western Athletic Conference coaches' poll media poll. This is the first time that the Aggies have ever been picked first in a preseason poll. Last season, USU was second in the coaches' poll and third in the media poll. In 2010-11, the Aggies were picked seventh in both the coaches' and the media poll.

Senior guard Devyn Christensen became the second-straight Utah State women's basketball player to earn WAC Preseason Player of the Year honors when she was awarded the honor by both the coaches and the media. Last season, forward Ashlee Brown was named preseason all-WAC. Last season, Christensen was named to the second-team in the coaches' poll.

The league will have a new champion as Fresno State captured the regular season and tournament titles. The Aggies received 78 points in the WAC coaches' poll, including seven of the 10 first-place votes. Louisiana Tech was a close second with 75 points and the three remaining first-place votes. In its first season in the WAC, Denver was picked third with 55 points, while fellow newcomer Seattle U was fourth with 48 points. Idaho was just behind Seattle U in fifth place with 47 points. Texas State, another new team to the WAC, is sixth with 41 points, while San Jose State. Rounding out the coaches' poll is New Mexico State in eighth (27), and newcomers UTSA (26) and UT Arlington (17) in ninth and 10th, respectively.

In the media poll, Utah State was voted first with 165 points, including nine first-place votes. Louisiana Tech was also second in the media poll with 145 overall points and four first-place votes. Six different teams earned at least one first-place points.

LAST TIME OUT - Behind a stellar first-half performance, the Utah State women's basketball team captured an 81-72 exhibition win over New Mexico Highlands Friday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

Senior guard Devyn Christensen led all scorers with 32 points, while junior guard Jennifer Schlott added 13. Senior guard Jenna Johnson ended the game with six points and six rebounds to lead USU on the boards. Christensen also added a team-high seven steals as the Aggies ended with 27.

New Mexico Highlands finished its tour of the Beehive State 2-1 with losses to USU and Southern Utah, while beating Utah Valley.

ALL-WAC HONOREES - Last season, senior Ashlee Brown and junior guard Devyn Christensen both earned first-team all-WAC honors and Brown was also the WAC Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the all-Defensive team. Brown was the first Utah State player to earn first-team all-WAC honors two-straight seasons. In 2009, Danyelle Snelgro was the first Aggie to be named to the first team. Brown ended WAC action sixth in the league in scoring (14.4 ppg) and fourth in assists (4.07 apg). Christensen was the fifth Aggie to earn all-WAC honors and the third to earn first-team accolades after Brown and Snelgro. Senior forward Amber White was named to the all-WAC second-team in 2010, while Ana Pares earned second-team honors in 2009. Christensen led the league in scoring in WAC games, averaging 20.6 points per game and along with San Jose State's Brittany Johnson are the only two players averaging over 20.0 ppg.

LAST YEAR'S EXHIBITION - Last season, Utah State also faced a team from New Mexico when it faced Western New Mexico. The Aggies beat the Mustangs, 89-44, at the Spectrum. Utah State was led by Ashlee Brown who scored 15 points in 16 minutes. Devyn Christensen added 10 points in nine minutes of action.

AGGIES ON THE RADIO/WEB - All Utah State games can be heard on KLGN (1390 AM) in Logan with Craig Hislop in his second season as the voice of the Aggies. They can also be heard on the web by going to the Utah State Athletics home page at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clink on the "Listen Live" link in the right hand column.

GAMETRACKER - Fans can follow Aggie home games through the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.

ON THE INTERNET - All of Utah State's home games are available to watch live through Utah State TV via the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com. USU fans can also listen to every game both home and away, via USU's web site.